ameliacass Events, Meetings, State & Local Calls/Emails, Uncategorized

Crowded Slate Vies for State Assembly District 15 Seat

There were nine candidates on stage and a large engaged audience at the California Assembly District 15 Candidates Forum hosted by the Albany Democratic Club at Albany High on January 29. Although the candidates competed to drop names and out-progressive each other, they appeared for the most part to agree closely on the issues. Even on SB 827, the divisive transit housing density bill by Senators Wiener and Skinner, everyone was in agreement that while they appreciated the spirit of the bill and the conversation it provoked, it needed significant changes to affordability, environmental, and local control provisions before they could support it. The only disagreements were on degree: whether single payer is “ideal” or “necessary”; whether a Prop. 13 (property tax) reform campaign to close the corporate loophole goes far enough. The organizers promised that video of the forum will be available soon on KALB.

I left better informed, but no closer to knowing who I plan to vote for in the primary this June.

Want to know more? Mark your calendar for the Assembly District 15 LGBQTI Candidate Forum, hosted by Lambda Democratic Club of CCC & East Bay Stonewall Democrats, February 21, 6-8 PM. All info here.

Read our earlier article about this race.

The candidates:

indivisibleebadmin Our Impact, State & Local Calls/Emails, Uncategorized, Who We Are

Voting in High School: More Than For Homecoming Queen

By Ward Kanowsky

Did you know there are approximately one million juniors and seniors in California’s high schools who may be eligible to vote in the upcoming mid-term elections? Indivisible East Bay’s CA-15 (Congressman Eric Swalwell) team has been working with other organizations, most notably the League of Women Voters, on an initiative to increase voter registration among high school students in California.

We are letting high school students’ families know about the Joint Letter written by California Secretary of State Alex Padilla and State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson that encourages high schools to have voter education weeks, to help eligible students learn more about registering to vote as part of civic engagement. We will encourage families to work with – and, when necessary, to put pressure on – schools to provide voter registration materials and information to their students; it may only take one concerned parent to get a school involved.

Representative Swalwell and his staff are supportive of this initiative. We have a meeting planned with Swalwell’s staff to discuss strategy as well as their own voter registration initiative, #ishouldprobablyvote. In addition, our team is working with Indivisible National’s West Coast organizer about how best to engage other Indivisible chapters to talk to high school students’ families about the Joint Letter, with a focus on red districts.

Have questions? Want to help? Email the CA-15 team or contact @ward on Slack.

Ward Kanowsky is co-lead, with LeAnnKanowsky, of the Indivisible East Bay CA-15 Team.

Photo of CA-13 team leads Ward and LeAnn Kanowsky with Rep Eric Swalwell 

 

Heidi Rand Events, Get Involved, State & Local Calls/Emails, Uncategorized

Assembly District 15 Candidate Forum

There’s a crowded race to fill Tony Thurmond’s California State Assembly District 15 seat, which he’s leaving to run for state superintendent of public instruction in 2018. Hear the candidates who’ve already announced, at the Assembly District 15 Candidate Forum, Saturday, November 4, 2017, from 11 AM to 2 PM, Contra Costa College, 2600 Mission Bell Dr., San Pablo, in the Room 225, General Education Bldg.

Hosted by the California Democratic Party African American Caucus, the forum is co-sponsored by Contra Costa College, Black Women Organized for Political Action, and the El Cerrito Democratic Club.

City of San Pablo Vice Mayor Genoveva Calloway and Contra Costa Community College District Board Member John Marquez will welcome the community to the City and to Contra Costa College. Paul Cobb, publisher of The Post News Group, will serve as moderator.

Candidates who will attend (in alphabetical order): Judy Appel, Ben Bartlett, Jovanka Beckles, Dan Kalb, Andy Katz, Rochelle Pardue-Okimoto, Owen Poindexter, Cheryl Sudduth, and Buffy Wicks.

The event is free, you can register here (not required). Any questions – contact Mister Phillips (510) 556-1951, the California Democratic Party African American Caucus Secretary. Can’t make it to the event? Submit questions for possible inclusion.

District 15 includes Albany, Berkeley, Emeryville, Oakland and Piedmont in Alameda County, and El Cerrito, El Sobrante, Hercules, Kensington, Richmond and San Pablo in Contra Costa County.California State Assembly district 15 map

anngdaniels Actions, Uncategorized

Who Represents You? Tell IEB, Help Save Democracy

Well, that may be a bit overly dramatic. But there’s a kernel of truth in it! As part of IEB’s preparation for the critical 2018 midterms, we want to be sure that everyone who votes will be able to find information on every elected office, from the federal level down to the tiniest township.

Local offices are often little-known and overlooked by voters, but they are important: they have real power, and local office is often a step toward higher office. We want to let our members know as much as possible about our local elected offices and who’s holding them.

This is where you come in. We need to know: who represents you and the place where you live? If you know anything about the local structure of your city or county government, please fill out this form (or as much of it as you can). You can fill out a form for each office you know about, and when you submit a form you can see the info we have and the info we need – and you can also join our GOTV campaign.

Right now we have an edition for Oakland and we hope to produce information – either printed or digital – for the other cities and towns within IEB’s geographical range. That’s San Leandro, Hayward, Pleasanton, Union City, Fremont, Alameda, Emeryville, Berkeley, Albany, Richmond, San Pablo, Dublin, and more; if you have info on a town that is not listed on the form, by all means send it! And if you know of any online resources that contain this information for the various cities and towns in our region, please let us know in the area asking for “additional information.”

For just one example of why it’s so important to have this kind of information, take a look at this excellent video and website from the ACLU about the office of District Attorney. And remember that the former Contra Costa County DA recently resigned after pleading no contest to felony perjury, leading to a search process for a new DA in which citizens were able to participate.

Thanks for helping IEB in this project!